Posted on 07/18/2006 12:39:19 PM PDT by libstripper
BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" was meant to inspire awe, an engineering marvel on scale with the Panama Canal that would thrust U.S. cities into a new era.
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Instead, it faces a crisis of public confidence after a fatal tunnel collapse that could derail plans for other U.S. urban mega-projects.
With 7.5 miles of underground highway and a 183-foot (56 meter) wide cable-stayed bridge, the Big Dig replaced an ailing elevated expressway to fix chronic congestion and reunite downtown Boston with its historic waterfront neighborhoods.
But cost overruns, leaks, delays, falling debris, criminal probes and charges of corruption plague the nearly completed 15-year project, giving ammunition to opponents of similar plans in other cities considering tearing down aging elevated highways built in a construction boom in the 1950s and 1960s.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
And not just an attempt, a success for the perpetrators. Just think - didn't they get money, power, and influence from the Big Dig?
The losers in this are the taxpayers of the U.S., and commuters of Boston. All the criminals got away scott free.
How do citizens clear out such corruption without resorting to vigilantism? This is maddening.
Thank You!!
Looks nice - of course the comparison just happens to be helped by crappy smoggy weather when they shot in 2003, compared to the sunshiny day when they shot in 2005.
But I have a question: where does all that expressway traffic go now?
Very good!
They don't.
Actually, Boston is so full of it - they needed a massive slit trench latrine....
It IS Massoftwoshits...
Semper Fi
Yep - seeing that ugly highway on a nice clear sunny day would have made it look MUCH more acceptable ...
Must be more traffic on the ring roads - kind of like when the West Side Drive starting falling down in Manhatten - they just closed it and that was it.
Next time, keep the cement ABOVE water. I've heard, in certain cities, bridges work pretty well...
Considering the number of Big Dig tunnel leaks that I've been reading about, there certainly do seem to be some similarities to the Panama Canal.
As an amateur photographer I'm always interested to see in the half-invisible editorialization that takes place in the way you frame a subject. You have to admit that the whole rest of the city would look dirty if the "2005" photograph was taken on a smoggy day, right? And that would take away from the impact of the river. That's all I'm saying.
Obviously, and the fumes from the cars coupled with the blocking of what breeze there was by the freeway would have made the local situation even worse. A simple matter like the highway stopping the rain from being able to wash away the dust beneath it would have had a great impact also.
I've walked one section before and after ... they did a great job.
BTW, as a photographer, you would love the fact that the bridges are all unique styles, many modern and one even using parts of an original bridge from the 1400's. The pathways below are ever changing, with "rapids", waterfalls and fountains - all lighted at night.
Google images for Cheonggyecheon
Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" was meant to ...provide full employment for unions, no bid contracts for mob contractors and unlimited graft for local pols.
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Never been said better than that!
Bttt
EUREKA!! Your post has given me an epiphany--the Beaners can solve the whole problem by establishing an express submarine service throughout the Big Dig.
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